Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Great New Games from Thinkfun for Family Game Night (Review)

"ShapeOmetry is a fun way to develop spatial, abstract, and quantitative
reasoning skills. To solve the puzzle challenges, stack green pieces on
top of blue pieces, or vice versa, to create identical shapes. Through
hands-on play, students build key skills, strategies and mathematical
understandings, such as part-to-whole relationships."

My Thoughts:

When I first saw this game I thought "Tetris," as the puzzle pieces looked like those from the popular game. And, when I saw that it was great for children in grades 2 -8, I couldn't wait to try it out with my nieces and nephews, as well as the adults, who were coming to visit for the holidays. In addition to spending time with family during the holidays, I also love that this when we play the most family friendly games in teams -- which I love. Even though this geometry puzzle game is geared towards children, the adults had just as much fun trying to solve the 50 challenges, which start at beginner and end with expert challenges.

Who knew that geometry puzzles could be so much fun? Well, we paired parents with their children, and had them try and solve as many of the challenges as they could. Then, when their heads aches or they needed a break, they put the last challenge they successfully completed on the wipe off board and passed the game off, which comes in a handy storage bag (to keep pieces all together and for easy transport) to the next group. Throughout the week, every team had a chance to play this challenging puzzle game. And, by the end of the week, we compared the results. I have to say that my husband and I were able to complete challenges all the way through #34, while my brother-in-law and his family got as far as challenge 45. Others who took the challenge completed challenges 9-21. Everyone agreed that the game was challenging, but fun at the same time. It makes for a great family game night that you can work as a group to solve together, as well as a puzzle game to entertain children on the go, as they can play solo. And, I can see this game being popular in the classroom, as a way to teach about geometric shapes, mathematical understanding, and just to have fun as a group. :-)

So, if you are looking for a challenging game the whole family can enjoy and learn from this year, why not pick up ShapeOmetry from Thinkfun. And, don't forget to check out their other educational games that are sure to delights children and adults of all ages.

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Buy now from Amazon for only $7.05. "This take-anywhere word game will have you flexing your vocabulary
muscles through fast-paced fun play. Players draw 2 to 5 letters at a
time, and the first to call out a word containing these letters wins the
tiles. The player with the most tiles at the end of the game wins.
Simple, educational, and creative fun for players of all abilities Mini
Mouth is great brain-building play for kids and adults alike."

My Thoughts:

What parent doesn't love take along games to throw in your pocketbook and pull out in the doctor's office for the kids to play together, or to keep children entertained in the car on long car rides? When I look for take along games, I always turn to Thinkfun, as they offer fun, educational take along games, in addition to their large assortment of puzzles and games for children and adults to enjoy. So, when they sent along their word game, Mini Mouth, to review, I couldn't wait to try it out for myself, as I love word games, as well as share with my family. Like ShapeOmetry, I shared Mini Mouth with family who were visiting for the holidays.

This fast-paced word game was easy to explain to children and when paired in groups, it become one of the favorite games we played together over the holidays. The premise of the game is simple, you lay all 26 lettered tiles face down the table. Then, you choose to flip over between 2 and 5 titles. Everyone looks at the titles and tries to come up with a word that contains all the revealed letters. Difficult? Yes, it was once you had 4 and 5 letters turned over. The first person or group to call out a word that contains all the letters wins those letters. The game ends when all the tiles have been claimed. And, the person/group with the most tiles wins.

We started out with a few rounds of 2 letters being flipped, to get people accustomed to the game. But, soon enough, everyone was asking for more tiles to be flipped, thus making the game more challenging. For hours each night, everyone gathered around the table to play Thinkfun's Mini Mouth. nd, when we were done, the tiles stores away neatly in the Game-Go Bag.

So, if your family loves word games, then they will love Mini Mouth from Thinkfun.

Disclosure: I was sent samples of these games from the vendor in order to write up an honest review. The views above are mine and mine alone.